Best CART race ever

[racer69]

In the 24 year history of CART racing, what has been the best race you have seen, heard about (whichever)

I didn't mind Surfer's 1997, Tracy and Zanardi were at it early on, Pruett coming through to win.

Also the closing laps of the 1983 Michigan 500 were good, John Paul Jr closing in and ultimatly passing at turn 3 on the last lap Rick Mears. Also Paul Jr vs Mario Andretti at Las Vegas in 1983 was a good dice.

What are your favourites?

[mac]

Cleveland '97 and Long Beach '98.

Honourable mentions to Laguna '96 and Toronto '98.

[mac]

The '98 superspeedway races were awesome as well. Vasser, Moore and Zanardi top 3 in both.

'97 Surfers was good, as was Vancouver '97.

[macdaddy]

This could be a fun thread!

I've been at some great races at MIS over the years. But when Pruett edged Unser Jr. by 0.056 back in 95, that was an incredible finish. All of the Handford races there have also been rather entertaining. And I'll never forget the Cleveland race in 93, when Mansell and Tracy exchanged positions time after time, lap after lap. It was great to see JV drive from two laps down to win the 95 Indy, (even though Scott Goodyear might think otherwise). The three-wide finish at Portland needs mentioning, as does just about any race Alex Zanardi ever found himself running midfield. You knew ahead of time that he was going to make those positions up! Somehow, somewhere! My mind's drawing a blank now. I know there are more. For all the times I've ran into the kitchen exclaiming "That was the best race I've ever seen!" Watching Greg Moore nurse 92 laps out of a tank of fuel to win Milwaukee was pretty intense. Every corner of every lap, you were expecting him to start coasting. Just ask Gugelmin, Blundell, or Papis what that feels like! The list goes on. Any one of us, given the time to think about it, could write pages!

[Troy]

Michigan 500 2001.

[William Dale Jr]

I was really enjoying the 2000 Honda Indy until Servia took Tracy out of the race and the championship

Surfers always seems to come up with a good race (well, with the obvious exception of this year's). Even the '94 race was pretty good, even if it took two hours for it to start Mario Andretti's pass down the outside of two cars heading into the chicane at the end of the back straight on slicks in the wet was fantastic! The '92 race was good; the 5-lap dash at the end of the race where Emmo charged past 5 cars to win in the wet was great! Tracy's win in '95 was great (I'm a Tracy fan so I'm biased, but why not?) with Mikey trying to hold onto second place from Bobby Rahal with no gears below fourth - shame it ended in tears.

[Laagri]

Cleveland 97 (or was it 98?). Anyway, the one Zanardi won from the back.

[Lee Janotta]

Cleveland '97 was brilliant. So was Michigan last year.

But c'mon people! There was CART _long_ before Alex Zanardi!

I'll have to dig out some vintage picks when I get the chance tonight. I know there were some fantastic fights between Rahal, Mears, Sullivan, Cheever, Emmo, Al Jr., and the Andrettis.

[Laagri]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
But c'mon people! There was CART _long_ before Alex Zanardi!

I'm sure there was, but for most of us outside North America, there was no coverage much before then. I remember being able to see highlights of the 1993 races in the UK (because of Mansell) and then Eurosport started showing races in 1996. But before that, nothing...

[paul-collins]

Any race my guys won was a good race. PT, JV, Greg, Scott Goodyear... Hrm, I'm noticing a trend here.

My two favourites were JV wins - Cleveland and the Indy 500.

[Lee Janotta]

Ah, fair point, Laagri.

Dang, I need to move forward on my home print/FTP server, and put some of my old taped CART races online for you guys.

[Flatspot]

Technically a USAC race I think my favorite was Danny Sullivan's "spin-to-win" at the Indy 500. I believe it was 1985. Definately full of the "Holy Sh*t" factor.

[Lee Janotta]

Ah, that was a wild one, all right.



That whole '85 season was fantastic, with Andretti, Rahal, Sullivan, and both the Unsers all taking shots at the championship... It came down to the last race at Miami, with Al Unser beating his son by 1 point in the championship, by making a daring pass around Roberto Moreno with 3 laps to go. It also featured a good sparring match between Rahal and Sullivan, Bobby leading most of the race but failing to hold off the Penske driver once his tires started to blister.

Interestingly, Alan Jones, then still an F1 driver for Lola, was actually brought in for a race at Road America as a replacement for the injured Mario Andretti!

Unser Sr. probably wouldn't have been running during the season at all had Rick Mears not nearly destroyed his feet in a crash at Sanair the previous season, which put him out for much of the '85 season, and have always troubled him since.

Hey, something I found while browsing the web.


This is a Penske testing at Pheonix in the winter of 1992. But look close at that helmet.

What might have been at Indy?

[Flatspot]

Nice post Lee, alot of great memories there.

[Jordi]

Ayrton was the first driver to test a Penske without a contract. Guess who was the second (a favourite of me and many others here)?

For favourite races... All races with the Handford have been thrilling, as was Long Beach 1998... Also Elkhart Lake'98, with Zanardi punting Unser, falling back, then coming back and finishing second, after Andretti had a puncture and Herta had been climbed up by Barron...

And I loved Detroit 2000... just because Oriol was 3rd!

[LateBraker]

Originally posted by Laagri
Cleveland 97 (or was it 98?). Anyway, the one Zanardi won from the back.

I agree. That was one of the most impressive drives I have ever seen in all forms of motor racing. That was right up there with Senna in the wet at Donnington in '93. Pure brilliance.

[glurrea]

MIS 2000 JPM and Andretti the last 20 laps...

I would to add the best qualifying session: Surfers Paradise 2000. De Ferran against JPM...

[StuiE]

All of the above...plus portland '98ish, when Mark Blundell won over Gil in the wet, in the closest CART finish.

[BootsOntheSide]

The Portland one was a classic, as Blundell passed someone at the start of the last lap as well. Apparently he knew how far behind the leader he was at the time, but when he crossed the line, ahd no iidea that he'd won. What a way to get ur only win. Funny tho that the closest ever F1 finish was also the only win for an English driver.

[Bizzo5000]

Michigan 500 in 2001. Patrick Carpentier's first win with help from Tags. Something like 68 lead changes. Just insane. Tags comming from behind looking like a fullback for Pat looking like Barry Sanders. Still sad that race is off the schedule.

[Bizzo5000]

And if anyone knows where I can get a copy of the above race I'd be in their debt forever.

[macdaddy]

I'm pretty sure I've got that one lying around here somewhere, but I've been looking for ya and so far no luck. I'll keep my eye open, Biz.

[Bizzo5000]

I would really appriciate that macdaddy. I taped over mine by accident. Still kicking my self for that one.

[DNQ]

1995 Surfers Paradise, the closing laps were very exciting.
And Surfers Paradise 2002 Fantastic fun trackside!

[racer69]

Although i've only seen limitied footage of the 1982 Indy 500 (only born '83) the closing laps looked fantastic, with Mears on fresher tyres closing in on Gordon Johncock, in what is the 2nd closest finish at the 500.

Surfers 1991 was good, Unser Jr led for a while but crashed just after losing the lead to Michael Andretti, taking out Eddie Cheever and Mario. Michael ran out of brakes, Mears led and went off, John Andretti came through and won on Jim Hall's return as a team owner.